Linking Legacies of the Cold War to Arrival of Anthropogenic

75 Pages·2014·7.05 MB·English

UCRL-BOOK-201419
Linking Legacies of the Cold War to
Arrival of Anthropogenic
Radionuclides in the Oceans through the 20th
Century
T. F. Hamilton
December 12, 2003
Marine Radioactivity
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This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States
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Preprint
UCRL- BOOK- 201419
Chapter 2
Linking Legacies of the Cold
War to Arrival of
Anthropogenic
Radionuclides in the Oceans
through the 20th Century
T. F. Hamilton, Contributing Author
Environmental Science Division
This article was submitted to
Elsevier Applied Science Publication
August 2003
Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited

DISCLAIMER
This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States
Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of
their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus,
product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name,
trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendations, or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California.
The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of
the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for
advertising or product endorsement purposes.
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may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the understanding that it
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Discovery of Elements Beyond Uranium.....................................................................................6
Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing and Nuclear Weapons Production.........................................10
Nuclear Weapons Testing..........................................................................................................19
Modes of Production of Radioactive Debris..........................................................................20
Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing.................................................................................23
Dispersion and Deposition of Radioactive Debris..................................................................25
Sources of Anthropogenic Radioanuclides in the Oceans...........................................................30
Ocean Dumping of Nuclear Waste........................................................................................36
Other Sources of Artificial Radioactivity in Regional Seas....................................................39
Sources of Anthropogenic Radionuclides in the Arctic..........................................................42
The Ocean Water Column.....................................................................................................49
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................53
References................................................................................................................................53
List of Tables
Table 1. Current inventory of radioactive releases to the environment in the Western Siberian
Basin and adjoining territories of the Russian Federation.....................................................9
Table 2. Atmospheric nuclear tests (1954–1980) by number, country, site, year, and fission yield
(Data Source: UNSCEAR, 2000).......................................................................................24
Table 3. Production and global release of key radionuclides in atmospheric nuclear tests..........31
Table 4. Oceanic inventory of fission products and transuranium elements originating from
globally dispersed debris, and local and regional deposits from atmospheric nuclear
weapons test......................................................................................................................34
List of Figures
Figure 1. Sites where atmospheric nuclear detonations have occurred.........................................2
Figure 2. Map of weapons production reactors and reprocessing facilities, nuclear test sites, and
waste disposal sites within the western Siberian Basin and adjoining territories of the
Russian Federation............................................................................................................12
Figure 3. Detonation of a high-energy nuclear device showing formatio of a fireball.................20
Figure 4. Yield curves for fission of 235U and 239Pu...................................................................21
Figure 5. Annual partitioning yields from nuclear detonations and apportionment of debris in the
atmosphere. Partitioning from equatorial sites such as Christmas Island and high-altitude
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tests on Johnson Island were assumed equally divided between the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres. For tests conducted at temperate sites (30˚–60˚) releases were essentially
averaged between the equatorial and polar atmospheres depending on the month of the year
the nuclear test was conducted (Data source: UNSCEAR, 2000).......................................27
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of transfer mechanisms between atmospheric compartments (to
right) and the measured latitudial fallout deposit of 90Sr (through 1990, to left) (Monetti,
1996).................................................................................................................................29
Figure 7. Estimated global production, and the cumulative and annual deposition of 90Sr
calculated from individual fission yields of tests and atmospheric model predictions (after
UNSCEAR, 2000) compared with the measured fallout deposit of 90Sr through 1990
(Monetti, 1996).................................................................................................................30
Figure 8. Local and intermediate fallout following the detonation of a 15 Mt thermonuclear test
“Bravo” on Bikini Atoll on 1 Marchof 1954 in the northern Marshall Islands...................32
Figure 9. Inventory of radioactive waste disposals at sea...........................................................37
Figures 10a and 10b. Effluent discharges from the Sellafield reprocessing facility in the United
Kingdom (1952–1992) to the Irish Sea: A. Beta/Gamma Emitters; B. Alpha Emitters (Data
source: Gray et al., 1995)...................................................................................................41
Figure 11. Activity concentration of 137Cs in surface waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Black Sea,
and Arctic Ocean (1985–1995) in relation to reprocessing facilities (Data source: Dr. Kathy
Crane, Office of Naval Research, U.S.A.)..........................................................................44
Figure 12. Activity concentrations of 239+240Pu in surface waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Black
Sea, and Arctic Ocean (1985–1995) in relation to reprocessing facilities (Data source: Dr.
Kathy Crane, Office of NavalResearch, U.S.A.)...............................................................45
Figure 13. Depth distribution of 90Sr, 137Cs, and 239+240Pu in the ocean, Tuamoto Archipelago,
French Polynesia (Data source: Hamilton et al., 1996).......................................................50
Figure 14. Temporal pattern in the activity concentration of 137Cs in French Polynesian surface
waters (modified after Hamilton et al., 1996).....................................................................51
Figure 15. Surface ocean response to global dispersion and deposition of 14C in the ocean: a
subtropical South Pacific high-resolution coral record from Rarotonga (21˚, 159˚W) (Data
source: Guilderson, personal communication)....................................................................52
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LIST OF ACRONYMS
AMAP Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program
AEC Atomic Energy Commission
CRESP Coordinated Research and Environmental Surveillance Programme
DOE Department of Energy
DU Depleted Uranium
EURT East Urals Radioactive Trace
ERDA Energy Research and Development Administration
EARP Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant
GEOSECS Geochemical Ocean Section
HLW High-Level Waste
HEU Highly Enriched Uranium
IASAP International Arctic Sea Assessment Project
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
LDC London Dumping Convention
LEU Low Enriched Uranium
MED Manhattan Engineer District or “Manhattan Project”
MPA MAYAK Production Association
MRI Meteorological Research Institute
NAS National Academy of Sciences
NDRC National Defense Research Committee
NTS Nevada Test Site
NEA Nuclear Energy Agency
OSRD Office of Scientific Researchand Development
PNE Peaceful Nuclear Explosions
RCU Radiocarbon Unit
REDOX Phosphate Precipitation, Reduction, Oxidation
PUREX Plutonium Uranium Extraction
TRU Transuranic
TU Tritium Units
TR Tritium Ratio
SIXEP Site Ion Exchange Effluent Plant
OECD United Nations Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
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